Another victim of Clinton justice

Jane Chastain is a Southern California-based broadcaster, author and political commentator. Despite her present emphasis on politics, Jane always will be remembered as the nation's first female TV sportscaster, spending 17 years on the sports beat. Jane blogs at JaneChastain.com. She is a pilot who lives on a private runway.

Now that Bill Clinton is free to get on with his presidency, it’s
time to allow a victim of Arkansas’ politicized criminal justice system
that existed during the time that Clinton was governor to get on with
her life. Sharlene Wilson has been behind bars for over seven years now.
That’s an eternity in a prison cell.

Sharlene’s real crime was crossing an old boyfriend who had turned
his Seventh Judicial District prosecuting attorney’s office into a
criminal enterprise. Sharlene grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.
Her good looks and her job tending bar at LeBistro, a Little Rock
nightclub where Roger Clinton used to play with his rock band, Dealer’s
Choice, gave her the opportunity to rub elbows, and a whole lot more,
with many powerful players in the state. In fact, Sharlene made extra
money by arranging toga parties for Arkansas politicians, where people
shared sexual partners in what amounted to a Babylonian orgy. Sharlene
once testified to a grand jury that she saw Bill Clinton get so high on
cocaine that he fell into a garbage can.

However, it was what she told that grand jury about her former
boyfriend, Dan Harmon, which proved to be her undoing. Harmon warned
Sharlene that if she ever crossed him, he would take her down, and he
did just that. Sharlene was attempting to turn her life around by
working as an informant for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency when she
testified against Harmon. Shortly after her testimony, Harmon arrested
one of Sharlene’s friends, and persuaded her to roll over on Sharlene.
Then he staged a raid on her home, which he personally conducted, and
surprise, surprise, found drugs. The DEA could not, or would not help
her and Sharlene was sent away for 31 years. When Harmon finally was
sent up the river, he received only 11 years.

Last year, Arkansas’ new governor, Mike Huckabee, ignored the
recommendation of his clemency review board that Sharlene Wilson be set
free. Gov. Huckabee has worked hard to clean up his state. This simply
was too much to ask in an election year from a man who had pledged to be
tough on crime.

On March 12, Sharlene’s attorney, John Wesley Hall, will file a new
petition for clemency and needs letters of support. Please take a few
moments to respectfully ask Huckabee to release Sharlene Wilson. Please
send a copy of your letter to Sharlene Wilson, ADC # 704829, P.O. Box
5555, H-2D, Newport, AR 72112-5555.